Conventional boxes and cartons are normally picked up and carried by placing the hands under the bottom of the box or carton, or sometimes by grasping straps wrapped around the box when straps are present. Conventional cartons designed for holding cut sheets of paper are formed of corrugated cardboard and typically hold 10 wrapped reams of 500 sheets each. These cartons of paper weigh 50 pounds or more, depending upon the bond rating of the paper. For example, a single ream of standard 20 lb. bond paper weighs 5 pounds and a single ream of 24 lb. bond paper weighs 6 pounds, whereby a carton of 10 reams of 20 lb. bond paper weighs 50 pounds and a carton of 10 reams of 24 lb. bond paper weighs 60 pounds. These boxes are relatively heavy and difficult to handle by most consumers.
Some conventional boxes and cartons have hand holes in opposed walls to facilitate lifting and carrying of them, but there is no spacer panel defining recesses behind the hand holes to provide space for insertion of the fingers through the hand holes. Cartons holding cut sheets of paper normally do not have hand holes in them.
Consumers wishing to purchase one or more cartons of paper typically either order the paper to be delivered to their home or office location, or go to a point of sale to acquire the paper. In the former instance, even after the carton has been delivered to their location, the consumer generally either has to lift the carton of paper and carry it to its point of use, or lift the carton onto a cart for transport to the point of use and then again lift the carton to remove it from the cart. In the latter instance, when the consumer drives to a point of sale to acquire the paper, the consumer either has to lift and carry the carton to check-out, or select a shopping cart and push the cart to where the cartons of paper are displayed, then lift the carton into the cart and push the cart to check-out. After purchase, the consumer again has to lift the carton of paper to remove it from the cart and place it in his or her vehicle. Upon reaching their destination, the consumer again has to lift the carton to remove it from the vehicle and either carry the carton into his or her home or office or place it on a cart to transport it to its point of use. This multiple lifting of the relatively heavy cartons of paper from a variety of carts, dollies and shopping carts increases the possibility for personal injury to the consumer.
Container handling is the third largest source of injury and illness in the private sector and is the largest source of injury and illness in the retail trade. Boxes of photocopy paper are among the heaviest items that employees are required to lift in the office. Data indicates that manual material handling (MMH) is among the most frequent and severe causes of injury worldwide, and 35%-40% of workplace injury costs are related to MMH, with 1.8 million U.S. workers experiencing work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD's) each year.
Manual handling issues that affect the ease and safety of the lift include: weight of the object; horizontal location of the object; vertical location of the object; vertical travel distance; asymmetry/twisting; frequency; duration; coupling; posture; and if mechanical contact stress is present.
It would be advantageous to have a container, especially a container for cut sheets of paper, wherein the container has hand holes in the sides with space for inserting the fingers through the hand holes, to facilitate lifting and carrying of the container and thereby minimize the incidences of injury that occur with conventional containers.